Biryani is one of the most popular of Indian dishes, there are lots of biryani recipes – some more authentic than others. Whenever we have a friends get together and everyone brings a dish to share, I am always asked to bring this tasty rice dish.
Serves 4
Cooking and preparation time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 1 cups Basmati rice
- 2 cups mixed vegetables (I used frozen mixed vegetables with carrots, peas, green beans, sweet peppers and sweet corn)
- 1 medium potato
- 1 medium onion
- 2 fresh green chilies finely blended
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 3-4 cloves of garlic – blended
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tsp turmeric
- Pinch of saffron (optional)
- 2 tsp cinnamon and cloves ground powder (optional)
- 1 cup of blended tomatoes (I used Passata)
- 3-4 tablespoons of natural Greek style yogurt.
- 2 tbsp cooking oil (I used sunflower oil)
- 2 tbsp melted butter
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
For garnishing:
- Half a cup of almonds
- 1 yellow sweet pepper sliced
- 1 small onion cut into slices
- 1 handful of baby tomatoes
Method:
- Wash and soak the rice for a minimum of 20 minutes.
- Wash and chop all the vegetables into very small cubes.
- Cut the almonds in halves (lengthwise) and set aside for the garnishing.
- First cook the rice. To get nice fluffy rice, soak the rice and cook it with plenty of water –like you would cook pasta. Add salt and a teaspoon of oil to the rice. When it’s nearly cooked, add in the saffron and strain the rice using a sieve. The rice should have a lovely pale yellow colouring. Allow the rice to cool.
- Heat the oil in a pan and add mustard seeds. Once the mustard seeds start popping, add onions and cook them for a couple of minutes. Add rest of the vegetables including the blended ginger, garlic and green chilies. Add the spices – salt, chili powder, turmeric and the cinnamon and cloves powder.
- Once the vegetables have cooked, add in the Greek style yogurt and stir. Cook this for a couple of minutes and add in the blended tomatoes or Passata and allow the mixture to cook gently for 5 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Centigrade (or 300 degrees Fahrenheit)
- In a baking dish, make a layer of the cooked vegetables. Cover the vegetables with a layer of rice. Layer the rice with the rest of the vegetables and finish with a layer of rice.
- Add the halved almonds and the rest of the garnishing on the rice ( sliced peppers, onions and baby tomatoes).
- Spread the melted butter over the top of the biryani.
- Cover this dish with aluminum foil and transfer it to the oven on a medium heat – 150 degrees for 30 minutes.
- Once ready, serve the vegetable biryani hot with stuffed parathas and raita.
Recipe by kind permission of Give Me Some Spice